Stella & Chewy's Dental Delights X-Small Dental Chews for Dogs (Special Order)

Stella & Chewy's Dental Delights X-Small Dental Chews for Dogs

Stella recommends the X-Small for dogs 5 to 15 lbs, one chew per day. At 19 calories each this is the easiest size in the range to fit into a small dog's day, which matters more for little dogs than for any other size.

Why the calorie count matters most on a small dog

Stella's guidance is that treats should be 10% or less of daily calories. On a small dog there isn't much room to work with... a 10 lb dog's entire daily intake is a few hundred calories, so a treat that would vanish into a Labrador's day can be a real share of a Chihuahua's.

19 kcal is the right answer to that problem. One X-Small chew is 10% of a daily intake of about 190 calories, which is below what almost any dog in the 5 to 15 lb range eats. It fits.

Here's the full set so you can see why the size recommendation is calibrated the way it is:

Daily needs vary with age, activity and metabolism, so read that last column as arithmetic rather than a prescription. Your vet can give you your dog's real number.

Don't be tempted to give a 10 lb dog a Small or Medium because the bag works out cheaper per chew. Those are 40 and 69 calories, and on a small dog that stops being a treat and becomes a meaningful part of dinner... quite apart from the size being wrong for safety.

This is not a raw product, and that surprises people

Most of what Stella & Chewy's makes is freeze-dried raw meat... 90 to 95% meat, organs and bone. Customers reasonably assume the whole brand works that way.

These chews don't. The first six ingredients as Stella publishes them:

1. Brown Rice Flour
2. Rice Flour
3. Vegetable Glycerin
4. Gelatin
5. Water
6. Oat Fiber

Cage-free chicken is seventh. The guaranteed analysis is 20% protein and 2.5% fat, against 48% and 28% for Stella's chicken dinner patties.

That doesn't make it a bad product. A dental chew has to hold a firm, grippable texture a dog works at for minutes, and you can't build that from freeze-dried meat... starch and glycerin are how every dental chew on the market gets there. But if the name on the bag led you to expect a raw meat product, this isn't one, and we'd rather say so up front.

Two practical consequences. It contains grain, brown rice and rice flour, where almost everything else in Stella's line is grain-free. And it contains chicken and chicken liver, so it's out for a dog avoiding poultry.

What it's made to do

Stella's design description: nubs and ridges that scrape the teeth as the dog chews, a shape made to flip and roll, and a form designed for paws to grip and hold. Infused with peppermint and parsley, and with calcium.

Stella publishes some stronger claims than that about what the chew achieves. We've left those out, because we'd rather give you the ingredient list and the calorie count and let you judge. No chew replaces brushing or a veterinary cleaning, and small dogs are the ones most prone to dental trouble... worth asking your vet what your dog's teeth actually need rather than relying on a chew alone.

Full ingredient list

Brown Rice Flour, Rice Flour, Vegetable Glycerin, Gelatin, Water, Oat Fiber, Cage-Free Chicken, Natural Flavor, Parsley, Ground Flaxseed, Calcium Carbonate, Citric Acid (a preservative), Sodium Bicarbonate, Chicken Liver, Peppermint Oil, Tocopherols (preservative).

Identical across all four sizes. No wheat, corn, soy, or added artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

Guaranteed analysis

• Crude Protein (min) ... 20%
• Crude Fat (min) ... 2.5%
• Crude Fiber (max) ... 3.5%
• Moisture (max) ... 20%
• Calcium (min) ... 0.3%

Identical across all four sizes. Calorie content is 2,832 kcal/kg for every size... only the chew weight changes, which is why the per-chew calories differ.

Serving

One chew per day, matched to your dog's weight. Stella notes treats should be 10% or less of daily calories, and that puppies may need up to twice an adult's food amount. Give it with fresh water nearby and under supervision, as with any chew.

Sizes we carry

A 5.5 oz bag of 23 and an 11 oz bag of 44.

One honest note on the label

Stella & Chewy's publishes no AAFCO statement for these chews, and none appears on their product page. That's normal for a treat rather than a complete food, and it means these are a supplement to a balanced diet, not part of one. Don't count them toward your dog's nutrition... count them toward the calorie total.

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